Searching for a graffiti artist's name and images of his '80s-'90s work
August 3, 2020 3:48 AM Subscribe
I'm helping a friend who is on a team trying to save a historically significant mural in a building that University of San Francisco intends to demolish. One of their ideas is a symbol for their website, literature (and graffiti?) done in the style of an artist doing stenciled graffiti she remembers from either the 1980s or 90s.
The work was usually the head of a political figure and one or two words (such as "Lie") below it. The image of the person's head looked like an over-exposed photo. The artist of this image clearly was influenced by the work she remembers. My friend is looking for the work of the artist who started the concept.
The mural
Why is the mural significant? Because of who it depicts, how it depicts her, and that the scene was pre-Civil War. Biddy Mason was born a slave, then became a freedwoman in Los Angeles during 1856. She was a nurse and a healer. This quote is from an Op-Ed in the Los Angeles Times (behind a paywall) titled 'Black history that needs saving':
"What makes the mural unique is its composition. Mason occupies center stage. She's surrounded by a group of white men - soldiers, patients, doctors, city officials - but she's not subordinate to them. Rather, she tends to the patient directly as a medical authority in her own right. Zakheim depicts Mason as she was: a healing presence and a pillar of early Los Angeles."
Part of being a pillar included both co-founding the Los Angeles First African Methodist Episcopal Church, and donating the land for it.
The work was usually the head of a political figure and one or two words (such as "Lie") below it. The image of the person's head looked like an over-exposed photo. The artist of this image clearly was influenced by the work she remembers. My friend is looking for the work of the artist who started the concept.
The mural
Why is the mural significant? Because of who it depicts, how it depicts her, and that the scene was pre-Civil War. Biddy Mason was born a slave, then became a freedwoman in Los Angeles during 1856. She was a nurse and a healer. This quote is from an Op-Ed in the Los Angeles Times (behind a paywall) titled 'Black history that needs saving':
"What makes the mural unique is its composition. Mason occupies center stage. She's surrounded by a group of white men - soldiers, patients, doctors, city officials - but she's not subordinate to them. Rather, she tends to the patient directly as a medical authority in her own right. Zakheim depicts Mason as she was: a healing presence and a pillar of early Los Angeles."
Part of being a pillar included both co-founding the Los Angeles First African Methodist Episcopal Church, and donating the land for it.
I think the art is for the symbol/logo of the group trying to save the mural, not the mural itself. So something like “save biddy” instead of “recall walker”.
posted by emkelley at 6:54 AM on August 3, 2020
posted by emkelley at 6:54 AM on August 3, 2020
Response by poster: "I think the art is for the symbol/logo of the group trying to save the mural,..."
Yes.
posted by Homer42 at 9:53 AM on August 3, 2020
Yes.
posted by Homer42 at 9:53 AM on August 3, 2020
Best answer: Are you thinking the stencil artist you're looking for was from the Bay Area, or are you looking for a person who was prolific in stencil art across the board, back in the 80-90s?
I'm thinking this style might be older than Hip Hop graffiti, but there can certainly be local specialists (Jeremy Novy's Koi) along the way. I have to think ACT-UP were stenciling back in the day, too.
posted by rhizome at 10:51 AM on August 3, 2020
I'm thinking this style might be older than Hip Hop graffiti, but there can certainly be local specialists (Jeremy Novy's Koi) along the way. I have to think ACT-UP were stenciling back in the day, too.
posted by rhizome at 10:51 AM on August 3, 2020
Response by poster: rhizome, my friend thanks you. She found what she was looking for among ACT-UP's stencil work.
posted by Homer42 at 11:11 AM on August 4, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by Homer42 at 11:11 AM on August 4, 2020 [1 favorite]
This thread is closed to new comments.
Your question is phrased a little confusingly.. The stencil you link first ("Recall Walker") is the art style you're looking for. The Zakheim mural has nothing to do with that style, right, other than that someone now wants to do a project bridging the two?
posted by Nelson at 6:15 AM on August 3, 2020 [1 favorite]